


Do What The Kid Says

by thistle_do_nicely



Series: Anthologicon [6]
Category: Person of Interest (TV)
Genre: F/F, fluffy ficlet, only really a hint of Root and Shaw
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-11
Updated: 2015-09-11
Packaged: 2018-04-20 05:50:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 978
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4776002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thistle_do_nicely/pseuds/thistle_do_nicely
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shaw, a kid and a toy phone. Not exactly her ideal mission.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Do What The Kid Says

**Author's Note:**

> For The Texan.
> 
> Prompt: in the middle of a mission, a kid hands Shaw a toy phone. She proceeds to speak into it while talking semantics with Reese over comms.

The situation was less than ideal for Shaw. Stuck in a suburban house with Root and a 4 year old kid.

Root was sitting at the dining table in this open plan living room/dining area, working away on her laptop, trying to hack into the bank account being used by some pretty nasty drug dealers. They had their number - the kid’s mother – and were threatening to kill her unless she helped them make a new batch of methamphetamine.

Shaw was thankful that the kid, Bethany, didn’t seem too annoying, whiny or clingy. Yet. It probably helped that she was in her own home and that she seemed to have taken a shine to Root.

While she was wondering just how the hell she had ended up here while Fusco and Reese were staking out the house the dealers were in she missed the fact that Bethany had wandered up to her like some kind of ninja child. She felt a small hand grab hers and place something in it before bouncing over to the sofa she had been sitting on.

Shaw stared at the object that had been pressed into her hand. Small, chunky and brightly coloured, it had LED lights, large buttons and a small aerial.

_Great. A toy phone. What the hell am I supposed to do with this?_

Bethany was sitting on the sofa holding the other phone and swinging her legs. When Shaw looked at her she started making a noise like a phone ringing, “Bring-bring, bring-bring, bring-bring-“

_Oh no. The kid wants to play._

She looked at Root who was busy tapping away at the keyboard. Root must have seen the panic in her eyes because she started to smirk but reined it in when Shaw’s expression change to a glare. She motioned to Shaw to answer the phone.

Before she even knew it was happening she was rolling her eyes and bringing the plastic toy to her ear.

She sighed, perching on the edge of the table.

“Hello?”

“Shaw?”

“Yeah. What can I do for you?” She tried to lighten her voice so as not to confuse the kid.

“Uh, you called me.” John sounded confused and concerned, wondering if Shaw was in trouble and was trying to subtly ask for help. Her un-Shaw-like tone wasn’t helping.

“I want my Mommy. Do you know where my Mommy is?”

Shaw gritted her teeth. She was going to have to soothe the kid and try to let John know what was going on at the same time. Tricky.

“Well kiddo, we’re working on bringing your mommy home.” She lowered her voice to a whisper. “John, help me out - what’s the latest?”

“Shaw it’s not looking good. You’re gonna have to play nice with the kid for a while.”

“Are you a mommy?”

“No kid. I’m not a mom.”

“Why not?”

Shaw caught Root fighting off a smile and shot her a glare.

“Because I’m too busy trying to help people like your mom.” _Among other things._

“What, you’re not going to tell her that that’s highly unlikely for _other_ reasons?” John teased.

“Don’t you have something else important to be doing?”

“No Sameen,” she pronounced it Sumeen (the “Sh” in Shaw had proved too difficult for Bethany and her first attempts had come out as “Saw” until Shaw took pity and told her to call her Sameen), “this is m’portant.”

_Oh god, please don’t get upset_. Shaw frowned then quickly forced a smile. Bethany beamed back at her.

“Your smile is pretty. Like Mommy’s.”

Shaw’s eyes widened. _I have no idea what to say to that_.

“You should smile all the time Sameen. You’re so grumpy.”

Root snorted in the background.

“Ha-freakin’-ha Root.” Shaw said quietly through gritted teeth while trying to maintain the smile, knowing full well Root would hear, no matter how quietly she said it.

There was only one way to deal with this. She had to play the only card she had that would work with someone as young as Bethany.

 “You know why I’m grumpy kid?”

Bethany shook her head and Shaw smiled as she realised the kid had forgotten that Shaw wouldn’t be able to hear a gesture over the ‘phone’.

“It’s because I’m hungry. I don’t like being hungry. Wanna see if we can find some food?”

Enthusiastic nodding told Shaw that Bethany was saying yes.

“And if we can’t find anything good we’re gonna order in some food. We’ve _got_ to have ice-cream. Okay?”

“Really?”

“ _Really_.”

Shaw placed the toy phone on the table and motioned behind her, towards the kitchen, with her head before sliding off the table. Bethany dropped the toy phone onto the sofa and headed towards the kitchen.

“Smooth, Shaw. Use what you know.” John couldn’t hint the amusement in his voice.

“Well she certainly knows about food.” Root chipped in, a smirk on her face.

“Laugh it up guys, but while you are working, I will be stuffing my face with food. Let me know if you need me to do anything more useful.”

Root’s smile softened as Shaw stood, hand triumphantly on hip. “What?”

“Nothing....” Root shrugged.

Shaw’s eyebrows were raised in response.

“You just.... You handled that well.” Somehow Shaw got the feeling Root wasn’t finished. She was proved right when Root’s face broke into a smile before she said, “I didn’t think I would find this version of you cute but, there you go.”

Shaw gave a slight shake of her head as she rolled her eyes and turned away before stopping and turning back around.

“Take back what you just said and I’ll make you some food.”

Root tilted her head to the side while she considered this.

“Okay, I take it back. You’re not cute.”

Shaw nodded and resumed her journey to the kitchen.

“You’re adorable.” Root added quietly.

Shaw pretended not to hear that.


End file.
